Snow! And, answered prayer...

Yep! It's snowing! Praise be to God! For over a month I have been praying for snow. When I first knew I was heading to Honey Rock for a couple of months, Rob Ribbe (Director) said that if I wanted snow I better start praying because there wasn't any! That was mid-December. Well... it's here... and it is beautiful!

I can hear the horses whinnying in the barn paddock, the scraping of shovels on the broomball court, and ... the stillness of the snow. Funny how if you really listen you can hear snow. If you think about it, that's what prayer is like too. If we really stop and listen, we can hear God answer our prayers.

Earlier this month in devotions I shared what I learned about three Hebrew words for prayer: tefilah, kavanah, and barukhah. (If you are a Hebrew scholar, please excuse the spelling... I found a number of versions for each one and so used the one most repeated.)

Tefilah is the practice of prayer and covers all kinds of praying: thanksgivings, petitions, praises. If I have this right, tefilah is the practice of prayer that teaches us Who God is and who we are in relation to him. That's why it doesn't matter what kind of prayer it is because any kind of prayer declares, "You are God! and I am not." We give thanks to God because he is the source of all life, of all things. We ask God because he is the only one who can help us (I learned that from Natalie Sturm when she was 4 years old!). And, we praise God because he IS goodness, kindness, life, love, peace, joy... you get the picture. So, tefilah calls us to practice prayer.

Kavanah is the mindset of prayer. This involves the intent and concentration of our mind and heart in prayer. And, because prayer teaches us about God and our relationship with him, kavanah is about asking and expecting an answer because we are his children and he loves us. This reminded me of many psalms that declare thanksgiving to God for his answer even though he hasn't given it yet. Kavanah is the mindset in prayer that declares, "You are God! I thank you that you heard my cry and saved me... or, sent help... or, answered me, etc."We thank God before we have the answer because we know he will, because we know he is God and he cares for us.

Barukhah is the prayer of blessing. From what I read, a Jew is to bless the Lord 613 times a day. So barukhah is a constant meditation on God and could be considered prayer without ceasing. "Blessed are you, O Lord God, King of the Universe for __________." ... our daily bread, snow, laughter, healing, forgiveness, sisters, fireplaces, friends, Butterfingers, Uggs. Just fill in that blank 613 times a day. Ann Voskamp's 1,000 Gifts is a great example of this. Barukhah is prayer that blesses the Lord, gives him thanks and praise. I read that barukhah means "knee" and can mean "humility". So, 613 times a day, bend the knee and say, "Bless the Lord for he gives us new life."

There are many things for which I will continue to pray, but right now I bless the Lord for the fire in the fireplace before me and ...

If you don't get what this is about look at the post from January 17th.